Question: How do you win the Dakar Rally in two easy steps? Answer: 1) Get Stéphane
Peterhansel to drive for you. 2) Er, that’s it. It’s not quite that simple, obviously. But experience is everything in the Dakar – and the much-decorated Frenchman is a winner for hire.
During a career stretching back to 1988, Peterhansel has won the Dakar 14 times. He started on two wheels, winning
six bike titles for Yamaha in ten attempts before switching to cars – since when he has raced for Nissan, Aixam, Mitsubishi, BMW, Mini, Peugeot and Audi. He scored an exceptional second place overall in 2000 aboard the unfancied Aixam Mega before winning three out of the last five Dakars to be held in Africa during Mitsubishi’s half-decade stranglehold on the event. Since then he’s won three times for Mini and twice for Peugeot, with two other podiums and three fourth places thrown in.
The maestro’s figures have not been so successful in the last few years, however, with three frustrating events aboard Audi’s revolutionary electric racecar followed by a year off in 2025. But the big news is that Peterhansel will be back for 2026 – and he’ll be returning behind the wheel of a Land Rover Defender.
Read the full article in the July issue of Overlander 4×4 –
